Played Arcanum (as well as all the other marvelous RPGs by Troika) and yes the world tech is very similar, with the exception that in Arcanum there was also magic, while in Roger Steel there isn't (at least from what we discussed so far). There's more mechanical/steamy stuff though

ankewl wrote:Will the game have moral ambiguity or will it follow the binary good/evil system?

Although there is no explicit Paragon-Renegade system in the game, the options available to the player in conversation and action (skill-use) will show a range of moral values which will in turn influence how his/her avatar is regarded by his/her companions (some being Myrth-like in character, and some Chambara-like, for example). The morality system certainly won't be binary. However, this is really a topic for future Sneak Preview, so I won't elaborate now.

Seems that Loren artist can work on this game too (taking a small break from Loren 2 art, but we're at good point already). So hopefully this month you should be able to see the sketches/lineart of some of the characters

FenCayne wrote:
First, Roger Steel isn't going to be a serious work of alternative history in the same way that Heileen isn't the true-life biography of an eighteenth-century English girl. Although I hope you are not going to find significant plot-holes in the game itself, certainly the background isn't going to bear too much scrutiny. I certainly want to aid your suspension of disbelief, but I'm not going to go to Tolkienesque lengths to do so.

Quite understandable, though it seems a bit of a shame not to indulge in a little bit of wild speculation if you're going to pick an alternative earth history for a background... It also seems like you've spent at least some bit of time thinking about the consequences, and a lot of what makes this sort of setting fun is seeing someone's ideas of how some event had a wider impact. I realize there's only a so much research that can be done to make things 'right' (especially as the game isn't focused on this), but in some ways it's not really necessary to get things 'right' (not to mention, it's obviously not verifiable); a lot of the fun here is in trying to come up with rationalizations for why something happened even if there's no in-depth 'real' justification.

Oh, I don't mind speculation ... I encourage it! In fact, that's half the fun of fiction like this - figuring out where things change, what stays the same and what changes ... and why. In case it wasn't clear, I really appreciate yours and P_Tigras' engagement with background story and wouldn't want to stop that. You are worthy critics of my elementary world-building and the game will be stronger for that.

Minor historical note from Roger Steel's world: Perry was in fact killed during the War of 1812 when a cannon burst during a brief altercation with a British frigate. From this seemingly insignificant bifurcation, flow a lot of consequences ...

I think something like that is exactly what would make this work. It doesn't have to be related to the plot in anyway (it would probably threaten to derail it if it was) and can just be a throw-away line without any exposition, but it generates a hook for speculation. Basically, the Earth is the biggest source material one has available, and little bits of information could go a long way to leverage it. Accuracy is probably less important (in terms of fun) than things that are different but familiar; for example maybe you run into a short article explaining in part why there are airships instead of airplanes (Hindenburg proves to be a great success? Wright brothers die in a crash?). In 'real life' the viability of airplanes has little to do with the Wright brothers or the Hindenburg accident specifically, but that doesn't really matter in making such details fun to read.

Yeah, it's the little details that give works like this depth, and there'll be a few of those ...

On the topic of games that this sounds similar to, I'd probably put up Arcanum; not an alternative history Earth, but close, and about the right time/tech level.

Yep. Arcanum was an inspiration, but one I didn't really follow because I thought even steampunk elves and dwarves would make the game a little too much like Loren. Plus those tropes are relatively 'common' in game fiction - for example, A Farewell to Dragons.

A few questions if I may and excuse me if they have already been answered but...
1) Will there be romance options? (I HAVE to ask )
2) What type of graphics will it have?
3) Are you taking inspiration from Fallout and/or say Baldur's Gate (1 and 2), Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1 and 2), Jade Empire or another source? (all VERY excellent wRPG's)
4) Will you be able to customize your character at all?
5) Will it have side quests and/or branching storylines?

Um, that's it for now, if I have more questions I'll ask if it's okay. XD

I can answer some myself:
1) yes, all combos
2) Loren artist said that should be able to work on it
4) You can choose the "class" and gender like Loren, but for clothing/whatever not sure yet, since doing it adds more art costs which could be used instead to have more CG scenes or romance images.
5) yes

some of the replies involve going in details that will be revealed in later posts, so we'll remain vague on purpose

It's three o'clock in the morning, and I'm putting off an already-late writing project even further. So, I'll be reading all of these posts one by one, and commenting as I go.

Also, I just looked up the new faction coming out for Warmachine, and I am stoked for some gears-and-boilers gadgetry.

...And, WOW. This 1936 is even worse than the ACTUAL 1936, and as the actual 1936 involved a world economy even worse than this one, rampant colonialism decaying in the worst way possible, and a Europe simply lousy with Nazis, that's saying something. Holy cuss, what happened to... to everything? How much worse could the villain possibly hope to make the world?

Also, why is Britain keeping her little brother down? No World War I to act as a team-building exercise? That one guy whose name I can't remember didn't carry that American flag through Britain to show that, whatever the governments felt, the people on the ground of both states liked each other? A poor understanding of export economics keeping both nations from becoming trading partners?

And, of course, the central question: will a party member be some sort of cowboy (or girl!) from the Great American Frontier, with a great big grudge against the British establishment? Intraparty conflict! Whooo!

...Hmm... maybe some sorta cyborg arm or something? Experimented on so they have a reason to hate the Shadowy Evil Conspiracy even more than the limeys? In that case, I hope it's a girl. To be uncomfortably frank, that's my robot fetish talking.

SpectralTime wrote:
...Hmm... maybe some sorta cyborg arm or something? Experimented on so they have a reason to hate the Shadowy Evil Conspiracy even more than the limeys? In that case, I hope it's a girl. To be uncomfortably frank, that's my robot fetish talking.

Heh funny you talking about this. I won't say anything more, since I want to leave this to writer in future sneak previews, but there's *some truth* in what you're saying

...So, probably American, hates on the British government, hates the Shadowy Evil Conspiracy worse, but otherwise not right at all? Call it a hunch. I'll drop the cyborg and cowboy bits first, if only because they are also the most specific.